Rotary steam-engine



(No Model.)

J. BBYSTRUM.

ROTARY STEAM ENGINE. K 110.3111718. Patented Febp, 18851 M mlm qtlnirTi-zn STATES Partnr @ri-Tice.,

JOHN BEYSTRUM, OF FITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROTARY STEAM-ENGINE SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 311,718, dated February 3, 1885,

Application filed June *28, `18S-i. (No model.)

To all whom, ib may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN BEYSTRUM, of

-Iit-tsburg, in the county of Allegheny and and has special reference to certain improvements on t-he steam-engine shown and described in application for Letters Patent led by ine February 15, 1884, Serial No. 120,863. In that engine the cylinders were formed with eccentric inner Walls, and the shaft carried a cylindrical hub on each cylinder, provided with pistons sliding in seats in the hubs, the pistons fitting over rods or bars extending through the shaft and being pressed out by suitable springs. In this construction of engine it was found that it was exceedingly difficult to pack the sliding pistons within the hub, as the steam would pass down into the hub and through the main shaft around the rods to the opposite side of the piston, thus decreasing the power of the engine and heating the main shaft and hub, so that they were expanded and thrown on more of a strain. It was also found that the movement of the sliding pistons required such frequent contraction and expansion of the springs that any springs capable of the rapid movement required were not sufficiently strong to resist the pressure of thesteam, and that stronger springs were very liable to fracture under the rapid movement. The principalobject of my present invention is to improve the construction of these parts of the said engine.

It consists in the combination, with a cylinder,of ashaft carryinga cylindricalhub,pistons sliding in said hub and provided with pins on the outer edges, and cylinder-heads provided with grooves Within Which the pins travel, the

grooves having their walls formed of removable Wings to take the Wear.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I Will describe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section of the main cylinder. Fig. 2 is a like section of the exhaust-cylinder. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of the two cylinders.4 Fig. 4. is

a perspective vieiv of the cylinder-head, and Fig. 5is a perspective view ofthe sliding piston.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each.

Therotary engine has a main or supply cylinder, A, and the exhaust-cylinder B, these cylinders being formed of rings separated by .a central plate or cylinder-head, a, and of the outer cylinder-heads, c c. Extending through the cylinders is a power-shaft, C, which is suitably packed therein, and carries the hubs E in the space of each cylinder, these hubs being cylindrical and concentric with the main shaft, while the inner walls of the cylinders are eccentric thereto, thus forming the steamspace. rlhe engine is provided with the steambox, f, having suitable supply-valves, d, and with exhaust-valves e, these exhaust-valves leading into and communicating with the steam-space of the exhaust-cylinder B, and forming the supply-valves thereto, the exhaust-cylinder having the valves g, leading into the exhaust-boxg. These parts are substantially of the construction shown and described in said application, and the faces of the drums may be packed against the cylinder-heads in substantially the manner described in said application, it not being necessary to illust-rate it in the present application.

In cach drum E. are the seats h, these seats being formed of slots extending radially from the periphery of the hub, as shown in said application, but there being no con'nnnnication between the seats or slots in the hub, and the rods on which the pistons were mounted,

as shown in my former application, are dis-V pensed with.

k are the pistons, which are made to fit the seats h neatly and correspond substantially in length to the depth of the seat lz, so that they may be withdrawn into said seats. Near the end of each piston, and extending out from the edge or face thereof, are the pins Z, these pins being preferably provided with the idlerollers m, and the pins and idle-rollers being formed of hard metal, to withstand the frictional wear thereon. These pins, or pins and rollers, extend out on either side of the hubs E and fit into the grooves n in the cylinder-heads, so that as the hub revolves thel rollers fitting Within said grooves draw the ICO , hardened-steel faces of these rings will Withpistons in and out of the hub. The grooves n are eccentric to the main shaft, and are substantially concentric to the inner walls of the cylinder, the grooves corresponding in distance from the inner walls of the cylinder to the distance of the pins Z from the end ofthe piston, and so holding the piston out against or substantially in contact with the walls of the cylpistons mounted therein are caused to follow the Walls of the eccentric cylinder.

In order to provide for the Wear of the pins or idle-rollers on the walls of the grooves fn, I have found it preferable to form the wearingfaces of the said grooves of hardened-steel rings p, these rings being fitted Within the cylinderheads, asisillustrated in Figs. Sand 4, and the stand very long wear of the guiding pins or rollers vwithin the grooves.

As it is not always possible to t the work so perfectly that the working edge of the piston. will form a steam-tightjoint with the `eccentric walls of the cylinder, and yet not cause great friction between the pins Z oridle-rollers m and the walls of the grooves oz, I have provided the pistons with the spring packing-bars o, these packing.- bars being formed inA the shape ofa T, and the T- bars fitting in corresponding T-grooves, s, at the working edges of the piston, and extending out beyond the edges of the pistons in the center thereof', and being held out by the springs t, fitted in suitable seats Within the pistons. As the pistons are forced out by means of the eccentric grooves, the spring packing-bars are held in cont-act with the eccentric walls of the cylinder; but little wear or strain is thrown on the guiding pins or grooves. As the packing-bars r are thin, the steam has but little pressure against their edges, and exerts but little force against the springs, and as the eccentric grooves cause the pistons to follow the inner walls of the cyll inder, there is but little movement ol" the springs.

1 Ihe operation of the engine is substantially the same as the rotary engine described in said application. The steam passing through the supply valves into the steam cylinder and pressing against the face of one piston forces thepiston and hub round until the piston passes the exhaust-port,wlien the oppositepiston has l been carried past the supply-port, and the pressure of the live steam against it causes the continuous rotation of the hub, while the exhaust-steam from said main cylinder is forced through the valve e into the exhaust-cylinder B, and its operation in said cylinder is substantially the same as that of the live steam in the main cylinder, the steam iinally passing out through the valve g into the exhaust-box y'. As the steam presses against the piston k the guide pins or rollers fitting within the grooves n hold the piston out against the eccentric walls of the cylinder, and thus prevent the escape of steam between said piston and the eccentric walls Aof the cylinder. As the steam is pressing against one side of the piston it presses the body of the piston against the opposite side of the seat h,and though the steam may pass down into the said seat, as the body of the piston is held by the pressure thereon against the opposite wall of the said seat,

1t cannot pass to the opposite side of the piston. The operation is substantially the same in regard to the steam-packing plates c.

The advantages of the engine are that it operates with less pressure than any other rotary engine known to applicant, and that though in use for some months there is ble wear upon the parts. In case any of the parts should be subject to Wear, the Wear can only come on the guide-pins or their rollers, the side Walls of the guiding-grooves, and the spring packing-bars insertedin the ends of the pistons, and these parts can be replaced at but slight cost or trouble.

no apprecia- 8o I am aware that rotary engines have been A provided with pistons sliding in the hub thereof and provided With pins traveling Within guiding-grooves, and hence do not claim this broadly; but

Vhat I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In rotary engines, the combination, with a cylinder, of a shaft, C, a cylindrical hub secured thereon, and having the seats h, pistons 7c, having pins Z, and cylinder-heads provided with the grooves n, having their walls formed ot' rings p, substantially for the purposes set forth.

I n` testimony whereof I, the said JOHN BEY- s'rRUM, have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN BEYSTRUM. 'Witnessesz JAMES I. KAY, J. N. CooKE.

IOO 

